Japanese at UCLan 2012?

Hiya!

I'm thinking about applying to UCLan for Japanese and Asia Pacific Studies, or maybe just Japanese, but I would like to know, if someone here is taking one of these courses could give me their opinion: how is the course? does it worth it? etc.

Thank you so much in advance! :tongue:

Btw, I'm not beginner in Japanese. Could I start the course in a more advanced level?

Reply 1

Pi!

14

I am thinking of applying for Japanese and Spanish. I will keep an eye on this thread.

Reply 2

Raquazer

Hi =)
I have recently changed my course from Asia Pacific Studies. So far there are 2 presentations and 2 essays for the first year. The course itself is generally quite hard because you are required to explain things in huge depth, especially in class participation. So be prepared :P Oh yeah, although its a 4 year course, Asia Pacific Studies itself is only 2 years, Japanese is 4 years including the year abroad.

There are 3 classes and class A is for people who have had previous knowledge of the Japanese language. And for the other 2 classes, you will be starting Japanese from the very basic.
If you feel that your Japanese is very good, you may jump to the second year straight away.

Good luck ! ^^

Reply 3

Shih-na

Hello everyone got my offer today after 3 long months for Asia pacific studies so stoked :biggrin:

I wanted to know that it say you can only do either Japanese or Chinese as the main language I want to hera from students already there or fellow applicants whether you can do both?
I feel that this is such a rare opportunity to learn two beautiful languages and even if it inconveniences I still want to do it.
Also with due respect I am paying 9K a year for this degree so I think this is a fairly reasonable request.

Any other ideas would be welcome
again
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH :biggrin:

Reply 4

Truby_Liz

Japanese is a very difficult language, so make sure you're committed to it! Shih-na, you can do both, but not as part of Asia-Pacific studies, you'd have to change to the Modern Languages degree. Otherwise you'd have to pick one. Tbh, I wouldn't recommend it anyway, unless you're very good with languages - there's one guy I know who's doing Chinese and Japanese, he's said a few times he struggles with it. I don't think he's failing though.

The actual department is a bit understaffed, so don't be surprised if you end up in a large class. My year and the year below both had about 70 applicants - it's down to 50 now in my year and I think only 30-40 are majoring in Japanese, but they tend to split up into three classes in year 1.

In terms of actual teaching, I can't really fault it. The teachers are friendly and they do try to help. On occasion they misunderstand things but then all but one of the teachers are actually Japanese *the other is Polish and knows a billion and one languages* so that's understandable.

They gave us a little test at the start of year 1 to determine what class we should be put in. To be honest, unless you know some Kanji, you'll probably be put together with those who are either new to the language or know about 10 words. Just take it as an opportunity to revise what you know.

I will caution you on this - they can be a bit slow with things like timetables, etc. I've always got feedback fairly quickly but there have been times where the online timetable *which is a new feature* is different from the timetable they've given us. There's been a few other problems but I don't think anything major.

This is a new feature, but it doesn't look like it'll be going anytime soon - they've made us take a test to see if we're good enough to go to Japan. This is an easy test but just keep that in mind.

I would recommend Japanese to most people, with the slight caution that you need to nag them on a few small things. Probably not as much as other departments though. :smile:

Reply 5

JamesJones777

14

Original post by Truby_Liz

Japanese is a very difficult language, so make sure you're committed to it! Shih-na, you can do both, but not as part of Asia-Pacific studies, you'd have to change to the Modern Languages degree. Otherwise you'd have to pick one. Tbh, I wouldn't recommend it anyway, unless you're very good with languages - there's one guy I know who's doing Chinese and Japanese, he's said a few times he struggles with it. I don't think he's failing though.

The actual department is a bit understaffed, so don't be surprised if you end up in a large class. My year and the year below both had about 70 applicants - it's down to 50 now in my year and I think only 30-40 are majoring in Japanese, but they tend to split up into three classes in year 1.

In terms of actual teaching, I can't really fault it. The teachers are friendly and they do try to help. On occasion they misunderstand things but then all but one of the teachers are actually Japanese *the other is Polish and knows a billion and one languages* so that's understandable.

They gave us a little test at the start of year 1 to determine what class we should be put in. To be honest, unless you know some Kanji, you'll probably be put together with those who are either new to the language or know about 10 words. Just take it as an opportunity to revise what you know.

I will caution you on this - they can be a bit slow with things like timetables, etc. I've always got feedback fairly quickly but there have been times where the online timetable *which is a new feature* is different from the timetable they've given us. There's been a few other problems but I don't think anything major.

This is a new feature, but it doesn't look like it'll be going anytime soon - they've made us take a test to see if we're good enough to go to Japan. This is an easy test but just keep that in mind.

I would recommend Japanese to most people, with the slight caution that you need to nag them on a few small things. Probably not as much as other departments though. :smile:

In response to the Polish lecturer, that wouldn't be Dr Kasza? I met him on the open day :smile:

What is the Japanese test like? Sorry I know this is an old thread but there a few Japanese students on tsr and even fewer on tsr.

Reply 6

Vaelant

Original post by JamesJones777

In response to the Polish lecturer, that wouldn't be Dr Kasza? I met him on the open day :smile:

What is the Japanese test like? Sorry I know this is an old thread but there a few Japanese students on tsr and even fewer on tsr.

Are you a first year? the January exam is painfully easy first year. It's mostly short sentence translation, both ways. Placing the correct particle into a sentence. Maybe a 100-150 word essay on someones trip, things like "where did they go?" "who with"

Reply 7

JamesJones777

14

Original post by Vaelant

Are you a first year? the January exam is painfully easy first year. It's mostly short sentence translation, both ways. Placing the correct particle into a sentence. Maybe a 100-150 word essay on someones trip, things like "where did they go?" "who with"